Despite rejecting a Jewish charter school a second time, an Oklahoma state board is preparing to argue in the school’s favor in court.
The Statewide Charter School Board on Monday voted to deny a resubmitted application to open Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School. Board members said they had no choice but to comply with a 2024 decision from the Oklahoma Supreme Court that prohibited the concept of taxpayer-funded religious schools.
Chairperson Brian Shellem said most of the board members disagree with the state Supreme Court’s decision, and they plan to fight against it. They unanimously chose a conservative Christian legal group, the First Liberty Institute, to represent them once the Jewish school’s founders file an expected lawsuit.
The board supported a prior attempt to open a Catholic charter school in the state. The Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the Catholic school, deciding a publicly funded religious school would violate the church-state separation required under the Oklahoma Constitution. A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state-level ruling.
Statewide Charter School Board chairperson Brian Shellem attends a board meeting May 12 at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) Shellem said the board’s position is the same as before — that a charter school concept shouldn’t be denied simply because it would include religious instruction.
“We’re not showing favoritism towards a religious component, but we also don’t think we should be discriminating against it,” he said after the board meeting.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond led the legal fight against the Catholic charter school. His office is now tasked with reviewing the Statewide Charter School Board’s request to hire the First Liberty Institute for legal representation.
A spokesperson for Drummond said the Attorney General’s Office will review the request. His office did not answer whether Drummond would fight the Jewish charter school in court.
Ben Gamla would provide an online-based education that “integrates general academic excellence with Jewish religious learning,” according to its resubmitted application. Its founding governing board, originally led by Florida charter school founder Peter Deutsch, aims to enroll 400 students K-12 statewide in year one.
However, leaders of five Oklahoma synagogues and Jewish organizations said the school’s founders failed to meaningfully consult the local Jewish community before seeking to open Ben Gamla.
“Had such consultation occurred, the applicant would have been made aware that Oklahoma is already home to many Jewish educational opportunities,” they wrote in a joint statement in January.
Deutsch told the statewide board he had spoken with about 10 Jewish parents in Oklahoma before applying to open the school. He established six secular charter schools in Florida with a similar Ben Gamla name, but he said the Oklahoma school would be a completely separate entity.
Ben Gamla Charter Schools founder and former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, right, speaks with Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, left, before a Jan. 12 meeting of the Statewide Charter School Board in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) Initially, the Oklahoma school’s founding board included only one Oklahoma resident, Brett Farley, who held a similar role with the defunct Catholic charter school. When it first rejected the school on Feb. 9, the statewide board noted Oklahoma law requires all charter school board members to live in the state.
Deutsch then submitted an updated application for state approval. The resubmitted application adds new board members and states that all are Oklahoma residents.
Among the new members are local charter founder and school choice advocate Robert Ruiz and Kandice Jeske, a public supporter of the Catholic charter school.
Farley said the Ben Gamla board will file a federal lawsuit soon to challenge the school’s rejection.
“We remain confident that our charter is something that needs to be approved,” he said Monday. “The (U.S.) Supreme Court’s already said three times that states have to respect the rights of religious institutions to participate in these (state-funded) programs, and unfortunately, the state Supreme Court disagreed. And so, we’re going to seek remedy in the federal courts.”
